Deaths from common cancers at 40-year low

The number of people dying from Britain's most common cancers is at the lowest
level since the 1970s despite more people developing the disease.

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor

6:01AM BST 10 Jul 2009

Deaths from breast cancer, bowel cancer and male lung cancer have dropped by a third or more since 1971 as better detection and treatment of the disease takes effect.

More people are developing cancer because the population in general is now living longer but fewer people are dying of the disease, marking major successes in treatment, researchers said.

Lung cancer deaths have dropped as more people give up smoking, according to statistics collected by Cancer Research UK with a drop of 53 per cent since 1979. However among women the picture is not as clear, as deaths continued to rise until ten years ago and since then have only dropped by four per cent. Smoking rates have not dropped in women as fast as they have in men.

Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “Years of research are behind the dramatic progress being made in the fight against Britain’s common cancers. Survival rates have doubled in the last thirty years and the work of Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of that progress.

“Our research is behind 19 of the top 20 drugs used to treat cancer patients worldwide today. Our work has underpinned the huge progress we are now seeing in preventing more deaths from lung cancer. And our progress over decades has helped to develop radiotherapy as a major form of treatment for half of all cancer patients.

“But research is expensive and – because we rely completely on donations from the public – we can only continue this vital work with people’s support.”

An analysis carried out by Cancer Research UK found breast cancer deaths peaked in 1989 with 15,625 women dying from the disease. The latest figures for 2007 show that figure has dropped to 11,990 which is equivalent to a drop in mortality rates of 36 per cent.

There are around 45,500 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Britain and breast cancer rates have dropped by 65 per cent between 1975 and 2006, according to Cancer Research UK.

Bowel cancer deaths peaked in 1992 with 19,598 men and women dying from the disease. In 2007 16,007 died – equivalent to a drop in mortality rates of 31 per cent.

Around 17,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Britain each year and cases have risen by 13 per cent since 1975 but have shown a slight drop in recent years.

And the number of men dying from lung cancer peaked in 1979 at 30,391 but dropped to 19,637 in 2007 – a drop in mortality rates of 53 per cent.

The number of men being diagnosed with lung cancer has dropped in the last 30 years by 46 per cent but the rate of decline has slowed in the last ten years.

The charity is launching a new national TV advertising campaign on Sunday to improve awareness of cancer and raise money for research saying although progress has been made there is still more that can be done to tackle the disease.

Professor Mike Richards, National Cancer Director, said: “We welcome this news that demonstrates the excellent progress the NHS is making in improving survival for people with cancer.

“We have made major progress on cancer over the past decade but we are not complacent. We invested £4.35 billion in cancer services in 2006/07, over five per cent of all NHS spending.

"The Cancer Reform Strategy, published in December 2007, builds on this progress and includes measures to improve cancer prevention, speed up the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, reduce inequalities, improve the experience of people living with and beyond cancer, ensure care is delivered in the most appropriate settings and that patients can access effective new treatments quickly.”